A sign outside the Hells Angels MC clubhouse on Victoria Avenue in Nanaimo. The B.C. director of civil forfeiture must provide the names of suspects in crimes — including murder — alleged to have been committed by or on behalf of the Nanaimo Hells Angels, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled Friday.Bruce Stotesbury
/ Times Colonist

The front entrance outside the Hells Angels clubhouse on Victoria Avenue in Nanaimo in 2004.Bruce Stotesbury
/ Times Colonist

The B.C. director of civil forfeiture must provide the names of suspects in crimes — including murder — alleged to have been committed by or on behalf of the Nanaimo Hells Angels, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled Friday.

Justice Barry Davies agreed with submissions by the bikers that they are entitled to more details of allegations made by the B.C. government to support its forfeiture claim against the Nanaimo chapter’s clubhouse.

In its long-running civil case to retain control of the property, the B.C. director has alleged that Nanaimo HA members were involved in illegal activity, including assaults, extortion, possession of firearms, arranging prostitutes and drug trafficking.

And the government’s civil suit also alleges the Nanaimo bikers were linked to “the abduction and murder of Patrick Cottrell in or around Nanaimo on or about November 1, 2005, and instructing or paying individuals for their participation.”

Cottrell was reported missing in the fall of 2005. His body has never been found and no one has ever been charged in relation to his disappearance or slaying.

Lawyers for the Hells Angels argued in court that they were entitled to specific information about the serious allegations, including the names of the alleged perpetrators.

But the director of civil forfeiture responded that because the case is civil, there is no “requirement to provide particulars similar to those when a criminal charge is brought.”

Davies disagreed and said that the information requested should be provided if the director is in possession of it.

“I am satisfied that the particulars sought relate to the material facts necessary to establish commission of some or all of those … unlawful acts alleged by the Director,” Davies said.

And he said when there are several defendants in a forfeiture case like the one against the Nanaimo Hells Angels, it’s even more important for the names of suspects to be provided.

“The identification of the person or persons alleged to have committed a specific unlawful act that the director has alleged involved the use of the property of which forfeiture is sought as an instrument of unlawful activity and the particularization of the time and place of the alleged commission of that act are of even more importance when, as in this case, many parties with varying alleged interests in the property sought, each of which has the right to know the case to be met by him or it, are joined as defendants,” he said.

The Nanaimo clubhouse, at 805 Victoria Rd., was seized on Nov. 9, 2007, beginning a lengthy court battle in B.C. Supreme Court over its ownership.

Davies described Friday’s ruling as “yet another in the series of seemingly never-ending interlocutory applications brought by the parties in this litigation which has now been ongoing for almost seven years with no end yet in sight.”

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